Since coronavirus hit Nevada in full swing in March, the Moapa Band of Paiutes has prioritized protecting its people, particularly the elderly.
For the tribe, whose reservation is 55 miles northeast of downtown Las Vegas, not only do elderly members have a higher risk of complications from COVID-19, but they are also the gatekeepers of a crucial part of Moapa culture: their Southern Paiute language.
Of the tribe’s fewer than 330 members, 67 are elders, said Ashly Marie Osborne, tribal council secretary. With few young tribal members like Osborne speaking much Southern Paiute, if elders were to contract and die from coronavirus, the language could die with them, she said.
“Not only are we protecting the community’s lives and people within our community, we’re (also) faced with sort of having the responsibility to preserve and protect our culture as well,” she said.
No positive COVID-19 cases have been reported on the Moapa River Indian Reservation, Osborne said. The same is true for many of Nevada’s 27 federally recognized tribes, most of which are located in relatively remote parts of the state. But the stakes could be high if the disease were to reach them.
Nationwide, Native Americans suffer from the highest rates of diabetes and heart disease compared with other races, have the highest rate of smoking and are most likely to be uninsured, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Congress of American Indians. Those factors could lead to more complications and deaths from COVID-19.
Many tribes in Nevada also have large populations of elderly people and people living in intergenerational households, where the disease could easily spread, said Cliff Banuelos, public information officer for the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada.
The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute in eastern Nevada have no COVID-19 cases so far, but the nearest town of West Wendover has reported several, said Goshute Chairman Rupert Steele. Members travel to West Wendover to buy groceries and other supplies, and Steele worries about how that could hurt the tribe’s large elder population.
“With the elders, they've got their relatives there too. It’s anywhere from five to 10 people in a household, so that’s a problem,” Steele said.
COVID-19 has already hit some Nevada tribes, including two located north of Reno. The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony has several confirmed cases, said Markie Wilder, a Pyramid Lake Paiute member who lives in Reno and serves as UNR’s indigenous students coordinator.
But the largest number of cases has been reported on the reservation in which she grew up. Of the 1,200 people living on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, 24 have tested positive for the disease as of Friday, according to a video posted Friday on the tribe’s Facebook page.
That’s 2% of the reservation’s population — higher than the per capita infection rate of any Nevada county or any state in the country.
“Per capita, we have concerns about the Pyramid Lake tribe. They seem to be impacted the most right now in Nevada,” Banuelos said.
Coronavirus cases on the reservation were slim to none until a couple of weeks ago — just when some states began to move toward reopening, Wilder said. As of last weekend, Nevada followed suit, with the state now allowing restaurants, retail stores, hair salons and some other businesses to reopen under strict social distancing and sanitation guidelines.
“As the country had talks of opening up, our communities were not even at their peak yet. So it’s definitely scary because everyone else is (now) more lax,” Wilder said.
For the Pyramid Lake Paiute, a disregard for social distancing guidelines could have contributed to the high number of cases, she said.
“Because the community is so small, it’s been happening through family members that are not listening to social distancing and still having the birthday parties, the prayer meetings, the sweats,” she said, referring to the traditional sweat lodge ceremonies performed by some Native American tribes.
While many Nevada tribes are taking action to protect their members, the ensuing financial toll has been high. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe recently closed its namesake lake, normally a popular tourist destination and the tribe’s biggest source of revenue, to all nontribal members, Wilder said.
The Moapa Band of Paiutes has similarly restricted access to its land to only tribal members who live on the reservation, Osborne said. With its casino closed since mid-March and little federal help having come in so far, the primary remaining source of revenue is the Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza, a truck stop, gas station and convenience store located along Interstate 15 and Valley of Fire Highway, she said.
“Basically, we waited for outside help and we feel like we’re still going to be waiting,” Osborne said.
All the while, tribal costs have gone up, with the tribe having begun delivering food to every household to reduce the need for people to go to the grocery store. The nearest one is 30 miles away and a lot of residents don’t even have a car, Osborne said.
“COVID-19 has been very expensive for us. We estimate our revenues will be down by at least $400,000 per month, and the emergency support to our people is $120,000 per month,” she said.
The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute are waiting to hear back from federal agencies such as the Department of Treasury and the Bureau of Indian Affairs about grants for which the tribe has applied, Steele said. In the interim, he started a fundraiser for his tribe to help cover the costs of cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment.
Smaller Nevada tribes in particular have had trouble getting grant money and emergency aid, although some money from FEMA and other sources has now started to come in, Banuelos said.
“Among the larger tribes, they may have the administrative capacity to apply for grants, but some of our smaller tribes, they don’t have that capacity, and they don’t really have a general fund. They don’t have an enterprise to help them,” he said.
Small tribes in rural areas also sometimes have intermittent internet and cellphone access, which could be a problem in emergency situations, Banuelos said. Many are located far from hospitals — the Goshute Reservation is three hours from the nearest hospitals in Elko or Salt Lake City.
“There is federal funding for upgrading internet services, so that’s a priority for the next round,” Banuelos said.
As the pandemic continues, the inter-tribal council hopes to find a way to accurately track COVID-19 cases in Indian Country. According to the Indian Health Service, there have been 2,395 confirmed cases in the Phoenix health service area, which includes all of Nevada and most of Utah and Colorado, excluding the portions of those states that are part of the Navajo Nation. But it has been difficult to get accurate counts from Nevada’s 27 tribes, Banuelos said.
“Right now, our numbers really have not been vetted. We’re trying to figure out a solution to that issue as far as getting the numbers,” he said.
In the coming weeks and months, especially as more businesses open up, Wilder worries about what that could mean for her community, including her diabetic mother and elderly grandfather.
“It’s not going away,” she said. “Regardless of the town or if Nevada opens up ... you still have to go home and you’re bringing that back to our home. That’s something I think people don’t take into consideration.”